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COMMANDERY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



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WAR PAPER 62. 



Prairie GroOe. 



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United States. 



CommamderY of the di^ti(I(3t of dOLupiA. 



WAR PAPERS. 

52 

Iprairie (ixrove. 

PREPARED BY COMPANION 

■9" 
Brevet Brigadier General 

EUGENE B/ PAYNE, 

U. S. Volunteers. 

AND 
READ AT THE STATED MEETING OF MARCH 2, 1904. 






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The badge of the Seventh Army Corps is a crescent with a 
single star situate equidistant from the centre of the concave 
side and points of tlie crescent. 

The battle-field of Prairie Grove is almost similar, only differ- 
ing in this : that the little country church, which represents the 
star, is situate within the crescent instead of below it. Prairie 
Grove is the only battle-field in the world that is in the form of 
a crescent. 

The battle of Prairie Grove was fought on Sunday, the sev- 
enth day of December, 1862, and was won by a portion of the 
Seventh Army Corps. The battle-field is located in Washing- 
ton County, Arkansas. The theatre of the hardest fighting 
was the slopes and top of a crescent -shaped hill, with its outer 
or convex rim facing the northeast. The top of this hill is a 
flat plateau, about three miles long around its outer rim and 
one mile wide at the centre, gradually narrowing to the points 
of the crescent. This liill was heavily timbered except in the 
centre, where there was a little prairie on which stood a coun- 
try church with a tall spire, called Prairie Grove Church. The 
brow of this hill on its convex side had a steep slope for per- 
'haps a hundred yards, then a gentle slope for about three- 
fourths of a mile to the valley below. On this slope were culti- 
vated fields, each surrounded with a common, crooked rail 
fence. A little river, called the " Illinois," flows northwardly 
around this hill on its convex side, bordered by high, bluffy 
banks. The Old Telegraph Road from Van Buren, Arkansas, 
to Fayetteville, Arkansas, ran over this hill directly past the 



church. A few rods back of the brow of the hill, and near the 
centre of its sweeping, circling rim, stood a white farm house 
with about five acres of cleared and cultivated ground around 
it, on which stood an orchard of fruit trees, reaching to the 
brow of the hill and connecting with the cultivated fields be- 
low. Here around this white farm house, and in this orchard, 
occurred the hottest and most terrific fighting of the whole 
battle. This white house, orchard and farm, were called 
"The Rogers" Place." 

BEFORE THE BATTLE. 

About Decemljer r, 1862, the Confederate authorities of the 
Southwest, having recovered somewhat from the punishment 
we had given them at Pea Ridge nine months before, had the 
temerity to believe they could take "Old Mizzoury " from the 
"hated Yankees." 

Thev trusted this task to Tom. C. Hmdman, a Major-Gene- 
ral in the Confederate army. This officer collected an army of 
25,000 men and 24 cannon, and Deceinber 2, 1862, started with 
his whole armv from Van Buren, Arkansas, northwardly, over 
the Boston Mountains, to attack Brigadier-General James G. 
Blunt, then in command of the First Division of the Army of 
the Frontier, encamped on Cane Hill, al)out 45 miles nortli of 
Van Buren, in Washington County, Arkansas. Blunt had with 
him 5 ,000 troops and 30 pieces of cannon. Blunt 's transporta- 
tion and wagon trains were at Rhea's Mills, eight miles north 
of Cane Hill. 

Blunt, learning that the Confederate arm}- had left Van 
Buren, Arkansas, headed in his direction, telegraphed Briga- 
dier-General Frank J. Herron, then encamped about 25 miles 
south of Springfield, Mo., and 120 miles distant, in command of 
the Second and Third Divisions of the Armv of the Frontier, 



comprising about 6,500 men, to come to his assistance at once 
bv forced marches. General Herron received this order about 
three P. M. of December 3, 1862. He immediately ordered 
Col. Dudley Wickersham, of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry, who 
commanded the First Brigade of the Third Division, to take 
all the cavalry of the two divisions, except about 500 men, and 
report to General Blunt as soon as possible. 

Colonel Wickersham took i ,600 cavalry and by rapid march- 
ing reached Blunt, on Cane Hill, on the evening of December 6, 
1862. This gave Blunt 6,600 men, leaving General Herron 
with about 5,000 men of all arms, :'. r., six regiments of infan- 
try — the Thirtv-seventh and Ninety-fourth Illinois, the Nine- 
teenth and Twentieth Iowa, the Twentieth Wisconsin, the 
Twenty-sixth Indiana — and four full batteries, in all 24 guns, 
and about 500 cavalry. 

Herron's two divisions, depleted of nearly all of its cavalry, 
after providing themselves with three days' cooked rations, in 
haversacks, started for General Blunt 's camp in the early 
morning of December 4, 1862. 

We marched 43 miles the first two days, arriving within 
three miles of the Arkansas line at 5 P. M. On December 6th, 
we marched to Cross Hollows, in Arkansas, a distance of 28 
miles, where we arrived at 2 P. M. Here we rested until mid- 
night, when we marched to Fayetteville, Arkansas, a distance 
of 26 miles, arriving in the morning of December 7th. A halt 
was here made for one hour for breakfast, when the sound of 
Herron's cannon, some ten miles to the south, put renewed 
energy into our weary men. We pushed rapidly forward to 
the battle-field on the Illinois river, double-quicking the last 5 
miles, having made the tremendous march of 69 miles in 36 
hours, after marching 43 miles in the two preceding days, or 
having passed over 1 12 miles in three days and three nights. 



6 



I cannot speak of other regiments, but I knoiv that in my regi- 
ment, the Thirty-seventh Illinois, when we arrived upon the 
battle-field at ii A. M., on December 7, 1862, nine-tenths of 
the men were carrying their shoes and marching in their stock- 
ing feet on account of the blisters on their feet. 

HOW THE BATTLE CAME TO TAKE PLACE AT PRAIRIE GROVE 
INSTEAD OF CANE HILL. 

On the evening of December 6, 1S62, General Hindman, com- 
manding the Confederate army, had reached Morrows, 15 
miles below Cane Hill, and there received information that 
General Herron was marching to General Blunt 's relief. Gen- 
eral Hindman then held a council of war with his subordinate 
commanders, to wit, Generals Frost, Shoup, Steen, Marma- 
duke and Roan, commanders of divisions ; and Colonels Fagan, 
Parsons, McRhea, Shaver and Joe Shelby, commanders of 
brigades, and decided upon a bold and highly strategic move, 
which was to march past General Blunt during the night, by 
going on a road southeast of Cane Hill, called the Cove Creek 
Road (leaving one brigade to make a feint of attacking Blunt 
the next morning) , and striking Herron before he could form 
a junction with Blunt, defeat him, then turn back and defeat 
Blunt. " Man proposes but God disposes." 

General Hindman, of the Confederate army, found more 
than his match in the rough and ready fighters of the ' ' wild 
and woolly" West. 

General Hindman's plans were well formed and well carried 
out except that of defeating Herron 's troops. 

During the night of the sixth of December, the whole Con- 
federate army, except one brigade, passed by Blunt, and at 9 
o'clock on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1862, had 
reached Prairie Grove Hill with General Marmaduke's Ccnfed- 



7 



erate cavalry several miles in front, marching towards Fay- 
etteville, Arkansas. 

The brigade left behind to deceive Blunt promptly drove in 
his pickets on the morning of December 7th, and did, in 
reality, deceive him by engaging his forces. 

It was not until 10 o'clock of the morning of the seventh that 
General Blunt found out that the whole Cofifederate army had 
passed him. General Blunt explains this b}' saying tliat he 
sent a Missouri militia colonel, with 250 men, on the night of 
December 6th, to picket the Cove Creek Road, on which the 
Confederate army passed, with orders to report all occurrences, 
but that this officer proved inefficient, as he marched his men 
within half a mile of the Cove Creek Road and remained there 
all night, listening to the passage of the Confederate army, and 
never reported the fact to Blunt until 10 A. M. the next day. 

On Sundav morning, December 7th, General Herron's ad- 
vance had reached a point to miles south of Fayetteville, Ar- 
kansas, when they discovered a body of cavalry falling back 
in great disorder. These proved to be several battalions of 
the First Arkansas Cavalry, and a battalion of the Seventh 
Missouri Cavalry, who, in haste to join General Blunt, were in 
advance and had encountered the Confederate cavalrv under 
Marmaduke, at Illinois Creek, and had been repulsed. Gen- 
eral Herron had with him in advance 400 cavalry under Major 
Charles Banzhaf , of the First Missouri Cavalry, and Battery E, 
First Missouri Light Artillery of six guns. His infantry and 
the balance of his artillery were on the road between this point 
and Fayetteville, rapidly pushing forward. General Herron 
quicklv formed his cavalry across the road, with the battery in 
the centre. After stopping our own fugitives he opened fire 
on the charging Confederate cavalry with grape and canister 
from all six guns. This was followed by a charge byourcav- 



• 
8 



airy, which, aided by four companies of Infantry, just then 
coming up, and by the battery, succeeded in driving Marma- 
duke to the Illinois river, four miles back. 

There is great conflict between the Union and Confederate 
reports as to the strength of the Confederate army; but 
Major Hubbard, who commanded the cavalry who were re- 
pulsed in the morning by Marmaduke, and who was taken 
prisoner and carried to the top of Prairie Grove Hill, told 
me that he counted on the hill- twenty regiments of Confed- 
erate infantry, to which must be added General Marmaduke 's 
division of cavalry and Colonel Woodruff's artillery division 
of twenty-four pieces, making a total of at least 25.000 men 
of all arms. 

The music of the cannon at the front put new life into 
General Herron's weary men, and hurrying forward on the 
double-quick, Herron's "Terrors" were soon at the Illinois 
river, confronting the whole Confederate army, posted 
advantageously on Prairie Grove Hill. As soon as each 
battery and regiment arrived the men were marched past 
a barrel of whiskey (Herron's best), with the upper head 
smashed in, and each man filled his tin cup from the barrel as 
he passed it ; that is to say, all but the tee-totallers. These had 
their innings a little later — when we waded the Illinois river 
in cold water up to our knees to get in position. Generally 
we did not sanction the distribution of intoxicating liquor to 
our men, but in this instance it was justifiable, as we had been 
marching nearly all night and the boys were physically worn 
out and had no time to boil coffee. 

The story was told in our camp after the battle (I cannot 
vouch for its truth) that General Hindman, the Confederate 
commander, gave each of his men before the battle a drink 
of whiskey seasoned with powder. This, however, I do 



know, that General Hindman, before the battle, gave out an 
address and catised it to be read at the head of every regi- 
ment in his arm\'. It was headed: 

"Headquarters, First Corps, Trans-Mississippi Army, 

In the Field, December 4, 1862. 

It contained sucli choice selections as these: 

"When occasion offers be certain to pick off the enemy's 
othcers, esjjecially the mounted ones, and kill the artillery 
horses. Remember, the enemy yovi engage has no feeling of 
mercv or kindness towards you. His ranks are made up of 
Pinn Indians, free negroes. Southern Tories, Kansas Jay- 
hawkers, and hired Dutch cutthroats. These bloody ruf- 
fians have invaded your country, stolen and destroyed your 
propertv, murdered vour neighbors, outraged your women, 
driven vour children from their homes, and defiled the 
graves of vour kindred. If each of you will do what I have 
here urged upon vou, we will utterly destroy them. We can 
do this; vve must do it. Our country will be ruined if we 

fail. 

(Signed) T. C. Hi.xd.man, Maj.-Geu. Comd'^., 

First Corps, Trans-AIississippi , 

Con'tcdcratc Army. "' 

Till' BATTLE. 

General Herron (Frank j.) finding that the enemy occupied 
the brow of the hill (about three-fourths of a mile from Illinois 
creek) in large numbers, crossed two cannon at the ford and 
opened fire upon them, and quickly drew the fire of twelve 
pieces posted near the brow of the hill. 

Finding that the Confederate batteries swept the only ford 
across Illinois river, Herron ordered Col, Dan. Huston, 



lO 



commanding the Second Division, to cross the river half a 
mile to the right. 

Colonel Huston cut a road through the brush, crossed the 
river with Captain Murphv's battery (Battery F, First Missouri 
Light Artillery) at the place designated, divided it into two 
halves — three guns in each half — and stationed them, 600 
yards apart, on the high western bank of the river. The 
infantrv of the Second Division followed. The Thirty- 
seventh Illinois Infantrv, Col. John C. Black, was placed as a 
support to protect the right-hand Imttery : the Twentieth Iowa 
Infantrv, Lieut. -Col. J. B. Leake, was [jlaced as a support to 
th.e left-hand battery. The Twenty-sixth Indiana Infantry, 
Col. John G.Clark, and Major Banzhaf's battalion of cavalry — 
dismounted — were placed as a reserve between, and to the rear 
of Ijotli batteries. The ball was opened bv Captain Mur- 
phy's guns, who ijuicklv drew the fire of the enemv's batter- 
ies. Under cover of Murphy's fire the balance of our batteries, 
to wit : Captain BackholT (Batterv L, First Missouri), Lieuten- 
ant Boris (Battery A. Second Illinois Light Artillerv), and 
Lieutenant Foust (Battery E, First Missouri), crossed the ford 
and deployed u]Jon the bluffs of Illinois creek south 0+" the ford, 
where tlicy were followed and su]jported by the Nineteenth 
Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel McFarland, Twentieth Wisconsin, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Bertram, and the Nnietv-fourth Illinois, 
Colonel Wm. W. Orme. Occupying these positions, our 
batteries did sujjcrb execution, throwing their shells not 
only into the Confederate batteries posted upon the brow 
of Prairie Grove Hill, but beyond into the Confederate infan- 
trv, who were massed in th.c woods Itevond their batteries. 

The enemy had an equal number of batteries, that is, four 
full batteries of six guns each, commanded by some of the 
best artillerists in the Confederate army, to wit: Capt. Wes- 



1 1 



ley Roberts, Capt. Henry C. West, Capt. W. D. Blocher, and 
Captain Bledsoe, a relative of John Hay's hero, Jim Bledsoe, 
who "kept her nozzle agin the bank till the last galoot was 
ashore" — all under the command of Maj. W. E. Woodruff, 
chief of artillery. 

Then ensued a most terrific artillery duel — a veritable battle 
of giants — Murphy, Backh off, Boris and Foust pitted against 
an equal immber of Titans: Bledsoe, Blocher, Roberts and 
West . • 

This artillery duel continued for three hours, and while it 
was in progress our infantry lay upon the ground, enjoying a 
much-needed rest. 

The enemv's shells flew wild, and nearly all went over us, 
owing to the elevated position of their guns. Woodruff could 
not depress them sufficiently to be seriously effective, while 
almost everv shot from our batteries did fearful execution, not 
onlv among the horses and men of their batteries but beyond 
among their infantry, massed upon the hill. At last every 
Confederate battery was silenced or had withdrawn except 
Bledsoe's, which was posted near the white farm house upon 
the hill. It was at this moment (2 P. M.) that General Herron, 
our commander, detected a movement of the Confederate army 
upon our left. They were preparing to move down the hill 
and charge our batteries. General Herron, believing that 
General Blunt could not be far away, as our twenty-four can- 
non had been thundering for three long hours, resolved upon 
a bold move, and one which no doubt saved our batteries. 
This was to check the Confederate advance at the brow of the 
hill by a charge upon them. The Third Division was ordered 
forward across the valley towards and up the hill — the bat- 
teries of Foust, Boris and Backhoff advancing with them and 
pouring in a very destructive fire of grape and canister, while 



• 
12 



Captain Murphy's batteries threw shells over our advancing 
troops into the Confederates. The enemy fell back to the 
brow of the hill. When the Third Division had advanced to 
within loo yards of the brow of the hill, where it began to be 
steep, it halted, leaving the Ninety-fourth Illinois, Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel McNulta, to protect the batteries. The Nine- 
teenth Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel McFarland, and the Twen- 
tieth Wisconsin, Lieut. -Col. Harry Bertram, charged the ene- 
nw's battery, in the orchard near the white house on the hill. 
The charge was made in gallant style, driving the enemy back 
and taking the battery. But the ground could not be held by 
reason of the superior numbers of the enemy, who were 
massed in support of their battery. Time after time these 
brave Union regiments were hurled upon them, but our brave 
men were compelled to fall back below the brow of the hill to 
our batteries. Then the Confederates charged en masse upon 
the batteries of the Third Division, advancing under a wither- 
ing fire of grape and canister from all our guns, and the 
infantry fire of the Third Division, to within 50 yards of our 
batteries before they broke and retreated in great disorder, 
receiving as they ran a terrible fire, which strewed the ground 
with their dead clear up to the brow of the hill. Our situation 
became serious. The Nineteenth Iowa and Twentieth Wis- 
consin were badly cut up. The color bearers of the Twen- 
tieth Wisconsin were shot down and the colors fell to the 
ground, but before the enemy could seize them the Nine- 
teenth Iowa charged, and Lieutenant Brooks, of Companv 
D, secured the colors and carried them back to the Twentieth 
Wisconsin, in doing which he was badly wounded. The 
Ninety-fourth Illinois was also badly decimated. Colonel 
McFarland, of the Nineteenth Iowa, was dead; two other 
officers were killed and five wounded. Two officers of the 



13 

Twentieth Wisconsin were dead and eleven wounded. The 
Ninety-fourth lUinois had lost one officer and manv men. 

The Confederate troops were again preparing to charge 
down the liill and, if possible, capture our batteries, when 
General Herron ordered Colonel Dan. Huston, commander of 
the Second Division, to take all the troops he could spare from 
his front, the extreme right of our lines, and reinforce the Third 
Division, Colonel Huston, leaving Col. Wm. McE. Dye, (com- 
mander of the Second Brigade, Second Division) to hold the 
front of our right wing, with the Twentieth Iowa and Banz- 
haf's cavalry, ordered the Thirty-seventh Illinois and the 
Twenty-sixth Indiana to double-quick to the new position on 
the left and charge the advancing Confederates. These two 
regiments, with colors living and drums beating, ascended the 
hill at a left oblique, pressing forward up the hill eagerly and 
fiercelv, driving the oncoming Confederates before them. 
Clearing the brow of the hill and advancing to the orchard we 
came upon the enemy in overwhelming numbers. They were 
in columns oi masse, with guns at a ready, and then ensued 
the most stubbornly contested fight it was ever our fortune to 
be engaged in. The orchard became a howling hell. Every 
man seemed a fighting fiend, firing as rapidly as he could, 
planting every Inillet where it would do the most good. We 
pressed the enemy slowly back across the orchard, and we 
were nearing Bledsoe's battery, when another Confederate 
batterv wheeled in on our right and began to unlimber. Over- 
whelmed in front and threatened with a cross fire of two Con- 
federate batteries, the only hope of the two regiments from 
utter annihilation was the bayonet or retreat. Directly in 
front was a rail fence, and it could not have been passed, and 
we reformed before the enemy would have been upon us, when 
reluctantly the order was given to fall back to our batteries. 






which, owing to the steepness at the brow of the hill, could not 
be brought to us. Not a man gave way until the order was 
given. The two regiments fell back together some 400 yards, 
and again formed in front of our batteries, and then the six 
regiments, to wit, the Thirty-seventh and Ninety-fourth Illi- 
nois, the Nineteenth and Twentieth Iowa, the Twentieth Wis- 
consin, and the Twenty-sixth Indiana, almost immediatelv 
charged again up the hill and against the Confederate army 
massed on the hill. In this charge the Thirtv-seventh Illinois 
captured Bledsoe's battery and held it until simplv over- 
whelmed by the enemy. It was here we met our greatest 
loss. Col. John Charles Black, commanding our regiment 
(the present Commander-in-Chief of the G. A. R.) carrying 
his right arm (shot at Pea Ridge) in a sling, received two balls 
through his left arm, breaking both bones of the fore-arm. 
Lieutenant Johnson was killed and Lieutenant Whitney was 
shot through the body while gallantly leading their men. 

Again we fell back, but this time only to the brow of the 
hill, where we were still fighting when the joyful roar of Gen- 
eral Blunt 's cannon, upon and beyond our extreme right, put 
renewed energy into our men and we pressed the enemy hard. 
They at the same time heard the (to them) ominous roar, as 
we could feel them gradually giving way in our front, as regi- 
ment after regiment were withdrawn to meet this new danger 
to their left. This, as I recollect it, was about 3.30 o'clock in 
the afternoon, and from this until darkness settled down upon 
the field of slaughter the battle raged without any intermis- 
sion, neither side gaining much advantage. It was a series 
of charges and counter-charges all along the line. Our artil- 
lery, of 42 pieces (of which we did not lose a gun) throwing 
shells over our heads and far beyond into the woods where the 
enemy were massed, resulting, as we afterward learned, in 



15 

frightful slaughter. At the close of the day, and the fight, 
our whole line occupied the brow of the hill around its whole 
circumference, when — 

"Our bugles sang truce and tiie night-cloud had lowered, 
And the sentinel stars kept their watch in the sky ; 
When thousands had sunk to the earth overpowered, 
The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die. " 

Our loss was 1,251 killed and wounded. The loss of mv 
regiment was: Colonel Black, wounded, two line officers 
killed, five wounded and one taken prisoner, and 100 enlisted 
men killed and wounded. The Confederate loss was 2,000 
killed, among them General Sheen, of Missouri, and 3,000 
wounded and taken prisoners. 

While in Missouri, as a special examiner of the Pension Bu- 
reau some years ago, I ran across about a dozen or more men 
who fought against us in this battle. In discussing the battle 
one day with one of them he asked me what regiment I was an 
oiificer in. I replied, the Thirty-seventh Illinois. "What!" 
he exclaimed, "that damned regiment that never stopped to 
load!" He alluded to the fact that my regiment was armed 
with Colt's revolving six-shooter rifles, and so we didn't have 
to stop to load. I explained this to him and it cleared awav, 
in his mind, what had always been to him a great mvsterv. 
Let us pause for one moment and contemplate this terrific 
charge up Prairie Grove Hill. The charge of the Light Bri- 
gade was brilliant and desperate, but it was a blunder — it 
accomplished nothing. The charge of our army, led by Kent 
and Hawkins, Sumner and Roosevelt, up the hill of San Juan 
and Kittle Hill, was brilliant but not desperate, because the 
foe were inferior as marksmen and bravery to the Americans, 
and, besides, did not outnumber us. But this charge up the 



i6 



hill of Prairie Grove was not only brilliant but desperate in the 
extreme. It was the charge of six little regiments, first in 
pairs, then together, and numbering not much over 4,500 men, 
up a steep hill and against an army of 25,000 Americans. It 
is true we had superior arms, and were aided by 24 cannon, for 
saving which we made the charge, but, nevertheless, it w^as an 
heroic, terrific, desperate charge, with few equals and no su- 
periors in history. 

While General Blunt, with his artillery and infantry, did 
not arrive upon the battle-field until half-past 3 o'clock in 
the afternoon, the cavalry of Herron's divisions, under com- 
mand of Colonel Wickersham, which had been sent to him bv 
Herron, reached the battle-field at about 2.30 P. M., and 
fought the enemy until Blunt arrived with liis infantry and 
artillery. 

Colonel Wickersham 's command was as follows : First and 
third Battalions, First Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Gower com- 
manding ; two l)attalions Tenth Illinois Cavalry, and two 
sections of two-pounder steel howitzers, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Stewart commanding; two squadrons First Battalion, Second 
Wisconsin Cavalry, Major Miller commanding; and 400 of 
the Eighth Missouri Cavalry, Colonel Geiger commanding; 
Colonel Wickersham was also reinforced by the Ninth Kansas 
Cavalrv and a section of howitzers from the Third Wisconsin 
Cavalrv under Colonel Lynde. 

The five or six hundred cavalry left witli Herron "s divisions 
were detachments from the First Iowa, the Second Wisconsin, 
the First. Sixth and Seventh Missouri, and the First Arkansas 
Cavalry. The cavalry proved their value as fighters and did 
their duty, aiding the infantry and artillery and guarding our 
flanks. 

After General Blunt reached the l)attle-field with that por- 



17 

tion of his division that participated in the battle, they did 
some excellent fighting, and shared the honor with General 
Herron's troops of winning our magnificent victory. 

Besides the Ninth Kansas Cavalry and the section of howit- 
zers from the Third Wisconsin Cavalry, under Colonel Lynde, 
already spoken of, the following commands, from General 
Blunt 's Division, participated; Rabb's Indiana Batterv, 
Tenney's First Kansas Battery, Hopkin's Second Kansas 
Battery, Stover's Second Kansas (howitzer) Battery, the 
Tenth Kansas Infantry, under Colonel Wier, the Eleventh 
Kansas Infantry, under Colonel Ewing, the Thirteenth Kansas 
Infantry, under Colonel Bowen, the Second Kansas Cavalry 
(dismounted), under Lieutenant-Colonel Bassett, a small de- 
tachment from the Third Indian Regiment, and the First 
Indian Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Wattles. The 
whole of General Blunt 's division did not participate in the 
battle. It was expected that General Blunt, being at Cane 
Hill, eight miles southwest of the battle-field, would have 
arrived there sooner than he did. General Herron was greatly 
disappointed at the delay. It seems, however, that General 
Blunt, upon starting from Cane Hill, at lo A. M., on the morning 
of the battle, instead of following the Confederate army on the 
main Telegraph Road, towards Fayetteville, marched north- 
wardly to Rhea's Mills, a distance of eight miles, and leaving 
there nearly the whole of General Solomon 's brigade, and the 
Third Indian Regiment as guards to the transportation and 
supplv trains of his army, marched with the balance of his 
division to the battle-field, a farther distance of five miles, 
making a total march of thirteen miles over a shockingly bad 
road; thus accounting for his delay. 

I have no excuse to oft'er for our employment' of Indians as 
soldiers. I can only sav that the Confederate authorities em- 



iS 



ployed them first. In my opinion neither side should have 
enlisted them. The only good Indians I ever saw were dead. 
I can say this, however, for the Clierokees employed by us in 
this battle : they did not murder wounded prisoners and scalp 
them, as the supposed-to-be-civilized Indians, belonging to the 
Confederate armv, were permitted to do at the battle of Pea 
Ridge, nine months before. 

After the battle, and after darkness had settled down upon 
us, my regiment (Thirty-seventh Illinois) occupied the brow 
of the hill at Prairie Grove as a picket-post for the night. 
About I o'clock that night General Marmaduke, the second 
ranking general of the Confederate army, presented himself in 
front of mv regiment with a body-guard of about 30 cavalr^■- 
men, under a flag of ti-uce, desiring to see Generals Herron and 
Blunt. As commanding officer of the regiment present that 
night I received him. After I had disarmed and corraled his 
followers (at which they swore roundly), 1 blindfolded the 
general and accompanied him on horseback through our lines 
to General Herron 's tent, where an agreement was effected 
whereby an armistice to bury the dead was agreed to until to 
o'clock xiext morning. This was onlv a ruse on the part 
of General Hindman to gain time, as during the night, bv his 
orders, and against the advice of his generals, his army swathed 
the wheels of their cannon in blankets and like the Arabs 
silently stole away, and at daylight the battle-field, with its 
heaps of dead and dying on both sides, was in our possession. 
Erecting a field hospital upon the battle-field for the wounded, 
and leaving a sufficient detail to bury the dead of the enemv 
as well as our own, we pursued Hindman 's armv over the 
Boston Mountains, and attacked his rear guard just as thev 
were crossing the Arkansas river, at Van Buren. Thus ended 
one of the greatest small battles of the Civil War, culminating 



19 



as it did in a glorious victory to the Union arms, and tlie 
expulsion of the whole Confederate force from all territory 
north of the Arkansas river, and thus saving Iowa and Illinois 
from the invasion which would have followed had we been 
defeated. 

In conclusion I wish to relate one reminiscence of a contra- 
band : 

In the early morning following the Ijattle of Prairie Grove, 
having slept on the soft side of two rails and my caterer not 
having shown up, I wandered down to the headquarters of 
my old Company C to get a cup of good coffee, as I knew their 
caterer, "Old Jake," never failed them; and sure enough I 
was not disappointed. This leads me to relate how "Old 
Jake" came to join Company C of my regiment. " Old Jake." 
as he was called Ijy the "boys, " was a huge negro, who stood 
six feet five inclies in his stocking feet, well-proportioned, a 
veritable Hercules, and blacker than a "stack of black cats. " 
He was about thirty years of age, and like all giants was of 
the most amiable disposition unless angered beyond endur- 
ance. The "boys" called him "Old Jake" because he was 
older than any of them. Jake was an expert at cooking, 
especiallv coft'ee, and he could distance any " Biddy " in Amer- 
ica in wrestling with the wash-tub. But what commended him 
most to the "boys" was his scientific judgment in determin- 
ing just the necessary amount of boiling which their woolen 
shirts must receive to extirpate the embryo pcdicnlns- 
vestimenti ; although the operation generally shortened the 
garment so that it could be worn as a vest, if occasion re- 
quired. 

But I am digressing. "Old Jake" lived with his " massa " 
just across the river from Boonville, Missouri, and, getting 
wind somehow of "Fremont's Proclamation of Emancipation," 



20 



bid "de ole plantation" good-l)ye, and made a break for the 
Union lines. 

At this time (fall of 1861) I was in command of the Post of 
Boonville, Missouri, with Companies C and H of my own 
regiment and seven companies of "Home Guards." We 
were camped upon a high hill just east of town. As is well 
known, Fremont's proclamation had been rescinded by order 
of President Lincoln, and, in consequence, our orders were 
very strict that no slaves should be harbored, but that all such 
found in camp should be delivered to their masters when 
called for. "Old Jake" came to my headquarters, told his 
story and wanted employment. I turned him over to the 
officers of Company C, with permission to test his skill as a 
cook and washer, and, if satisfactory, to hire him and pay him 
regular wages. In a few days I heard the best of reports of 
Jake's competency and fidelity. I passed my word to the 
officers and men of Company C, who had adopted him, so 
to speak, to help them protect "Old Jake." 

Possibh- a month after this, a long, lank Missourian, 
dressed in seedy homespun, with an old-fashioned plug hat 
upon his head, with long hair slightly tinged with gray falling 
upon his shoulders, and with l)ig bushy whiskers, sauntered 
into my tent (having been brought in by the picket officer), 
and presented a written order from some official in St. Louis 
to "give the bearer every facility to search for a runaway 
negro boy by the name of Jake (describing him) and u])on his 
being found turn him over to his master," etc. I was for a 
moment stunned, but quickly recovering, I bade Jake's mas- 
ter to take a "cheer," as he called my camp-stool, and wait 
until 1 had finished an important order which I was then 
writing. 1 lurned to my desk and dashed off a message to 
the "boys" of Company C, telling them that " Old Jake's" 



21 



master was in camp and that I was ordered to turn Jake over 
if he could be found, and that I hoped he could noi he found. 
This I dispatched by an orderly to company headquarters, 
and detained the old Missourian in conversation until he 
grew very impatient. I then sent an orderly with him to 
inspect the camp. It is needless to remark that "Old Jake" 
could nowhere be found, and the last I saw of his master 
my "boys" were chasing him down hill towards Boonvillc, 
and pelting him with hen fruit. 

Where the "boys" hid Jake I never knew, but when Com- 
pany C left Boonville, as they did in January following, "Old 
Jake" was rolled up in some Sibley tents and loaded upon 
the company wagon, and, although nearly smothered, came 
out at night all right and "soldiered " with Company C througli 
their five years' service. He did yeoman service, too. 1 
shall never forget how thoughtful he proved and how welcome 
he was on one occasion. 

We had fought the Confederates all day of March 7, iS6:?, 
at the terrible battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. The survivors 
of my regiment were placed in front as a picket or outpost 
that night. The next morning we turned out stiff, sore and 
hungry, for we had eaten up our scanty supply of hardtack 
the dav before, and had no fire, and consequently no coffee, 
for twenty-four hours, wlien who should stalk in among Com- 
pany C but "Old Jake," bearing three huge camp-kettles 
(one in either hand and one upon the turban on his head) all 
filled with hot steaming coffee. To say that the black giant 
was fairly hugged by the delighted "boys" is not drawing it 
too strong. If ever a "nigger" earned his freedom it was 
"Old Jake." He earned good wages, too, and saved and 
banked his earnings with his captain, afterwards Col. Jud. 
Huntlev. 



22 



After the " wah " "Old Jake" married a "yellow damsel" 
and bought a nice little farm and settled down. In after life 
he took great delight in recounting to his numerous progeny 
of "pickaninnies" his wonderful exploits while "sojerin wid 
ole Company C." 



